What is the right expansion plan for your OTT service?

In a previous blog, we discussed the features needed to deliver a smooth and engaging user experience. In many cases service providers start by launching with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) version of their offering and then work to continuously grow it in the desired directions over time.

Expanding a service can mean many different things - including adding new features, experimenting with new content, or growing your reach internationally. Either way, it is important to have a solid plan in place as well as a clear understanding of the considerations required to meet your expansion goals. Once you have proven your business case, the next step is to evaluate how it can be built upon to take your service to the next level. For international expansions, what works in one market may not work in another, so it is important to understand local requirements and adjust your offering accordingly. Here are some key considerations for taking your offering to new parts of the world.

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‍Business Model

In some parts of the world, users are used to (and completely fine with) free ad-funded models. In others, the tolerance for commercial breaks is smaller and customers are more open to paying for various kinds of subscriptions. Even within the same market, different audience segments may be drawn to different commercial set-ups. It is therefore important to design your service with support for a combination of business models. 

The answer is sometimes to take a hybrid approach and allow for both subscription and advertising- or transaction-based set-ups. In some cases, this can be about offering customers a choice of different tiers - for example a standard versus a premium package that provides access to different bundles of content. Or you may choose to present users with PPV (pay-per-view) transactional choices, such as offering them access to exclusive live content for a fee. 

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Multi- territory Support

Expanding your offering internationally will require functionalities that support multiple languages for both metadata and texts shown within the user experience. And in order to manage this in a seamless way, you will need to build your service on a platform that allows you to manage a multi-language set-up in one consolidated place. Ultimately, this all starts with establishing how much the location and the language of your end users matter? If the answer is a lot, you may want to geo-restrict your service to certain locations. If you are, or will, operate in different markets it is more that certain that you will have rights to distribute different content in different countries. To allow this, we have the ability to serve different variations towards different markets. These include content, default language, you can even have different integrations or functionality in the different variations of your service. 

Taking your service international requires more than just providing a translated experience within the apps. You will also need to consider how customers in different countries will interact with your business outside of the streaming environment. Will users be able to contact a 24/7 support line and if so, will it be available in their native language? What is the easiest way to establish an effective customer service structure? Is it via online chat bots, telephone, or mail?

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Launch Campaigns

Your service may be a success in its home country, but how can you work to introduce it to entirely new regions? There are various ways of launching your video offering and many will require functionalities to be set-up within the actual apps. One example is to offer users in new regions the ability to watch some or all content on a trial basis before they are required to pay. This is a proven way of attracting new customers but it naturally requires support for these kinds of limited time set-ups.

Another alternative could be to offer customers promotional voucher codes in exchange for signing up to the service. These codes could then be used as a discount for a duration of the subscription. Remember that it is difficult for users to accept an increase of the price, better to have a discount the first 6 or 12 months. . Regardless of the way you choose to construct your launch plan, you need to ensure that your service is built in a way that supports different kinds of campaigns and Marketing activities. 

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Putting it All Together

A successful expansion plan is not just about introducing your service to a new market. It is equally important to ensure that you have the strategy and infrastructure in place to ensure international success in the long-run. While it is crucial to understand the current environment and needs of a new market, it is equally relevant to consider what these needs may look like in the future. Once your service has gone international, it is possible that you will need to allow for some flexibility in your product roadmap to cater to the way different regional markets develop.

Accedo One offers support for taking your service to the world, by enabling multi-language support as well as a flexible set-up that allows both SVOD & AVOD models. We recently worked with Canadian OTT provider OutTV to help bring their offering to new territories and markets – including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. To learn more about how the platform can be used to support your business expansion plans, book a meeting with our team at this year’s IBC.